THE RABBIS’ KADDISH The Kaddish, one of the most important of all prayers, had its origins not in the synagogue but in the house of study. It grew out of a custom, still widely practiced, of ending every discourse or sermon with the hope that we may speedily see the coming of the messianic age, when the sovereignty of God will be recognized by all the dwellers on earth. It is written mainly in Aramaic, the language most widely spoken by Jews in the first centuries of the Common Era. It has come to have five forms: (1) Half Kaddish, recited to mark the beginning or end of a section of the prayers; (2) Full Kaddish (Titkabal), to mark the end of the Amida and its associated meditations; (3) the Mourner’s Kaddish; (4) The Rabbis’ Kaddish, said after a passage from the Oral Law; (5) the Kaddish of Renewal, said only at the conclusion of a tractate of the Talmud, or by a child at the funeral of a parent. The Rabbis’ Kaddish is a prayer not only for the establishment of God’s kingdom but also for the teachers of Torah and their disciples. It is characteristic of Judaism’s value system that this is the first Kaddish we say each morning. Judaism is a faith whose passion is education, whose heroes are teachers, and whose citadels are schools and houses of study. To learn, to teach, to internalize God’s will, to join our minds with the great sages and scholars of the past – this is a supreme expression of Judaism, and the one from which all else flows.